Manchester City just won the Champions League last weekend, and as a Gooner, you may ask yourself, “Why can’t the Gunners make it their mission to lift the Champions League next season?” It’s ambitious to ask them to do so, but how do they announce themselves to Europe other than by winning the Champions League?
You may think I am beig a bit far-fetched in my opinion, but I am personally convinced that Arteta and his boys can make the jump to the highest level next season, and here’s why:
Managerial stability
Arsenal has been growing from strength to strength under Arteta. The Spaniard has managed to build a team out of the players he found at the club and the ones he signed. Many say this will be his biggest summer transfer window, so if he can complete key deals and continue leading the Gunners like last season, Arsenal may be strong enough to deal with any team they face in Europe.
Quality Squad
Arsenal was incredible last season; there’s no denying that. Many pointed out their lack of quality squad depth as a reason they lost their momentum towards the end of the season. If Arteta is supported to add the much-needed depth to his squad, then Arsenal will be as good as any team that can win the Champions League.
Stronger Engine Room
There are talks of two marquee deals for the midfield. Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo are tipped to join. If the two sign and play at the levels they were playing at last season, why can’t they, alongside Odegaard, make the Arsenal midfield the best in England and Europe? With a strong midfield, Arsenal will have what it takes to compete at the highest level.
Defensive Solidity
Arsenal’s defence was imperious last season. It only got shaky towards the end of the season when William Saliba was sidelined. Next season, Saliba will be fit and ready to go. With the Frenchman and the addition of another centre-back and a right-back, the Arsenal defence should move to establish itself as the best and thus be the foundation of the charge for the Champions League.
In conclusion, Man City’s treble win should inspire every PL team to try to lift every cup in their grasp. Arsenal would want to collect any trophy they can next season, and isn’t the Champions League a trophy? And in actual fact, the Champions League may be a lot easier to win next season than the Premier League!
Onwards and Upwards!
Sam P
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We can’t
Lol beautifully put. Almost poetic in its simplicity. But, sadly, also correct.
I just didn’t get the arrogance of our fanbase lol
We havnt won a title in 2 decades , couldn’t get past last 16 of Europa
Are back in CL for first time in 6 years but can we win it ? Lol
I know right!!? I wasn’t convinced we were even going to come 2nd in the league even after if was mathematically impossible not to. Let’s just hope for a run of 5 consecutive years of qualifying and not being awful.
We need full backs and other players that scored a rating of 7 or better against Man City as well as the rest of the season as an average. That should be the benchmark for Arsenal buying players. Buy the best to beat the best otherwise it’s another wasted wage bill. As for the over priced Caicedo and Rice for £90 million, remember Bellingham sold for only £88 million and Brightons best player MacAlistair sold for only £35 million. Get real with your player prices, they are not that good.
Bellingham didn’t go from one EPL team to another.
McAllister had a release clause.
Caicedo just signed a new contract, and Brighton don’t want/need to sell.
Rice is an established English international, wanted by numerous teams in the EPL.
Four entirely different situations that can’t be compared.
Players cost what it takes to get the deal done.
Daveg,how much have you been asked to contribute?You seem so jittery as if u will pat with some peny.
Get real,if we can afford to bring both Caicedo and Rice then that would be wonderful.Caicedo covers Patey,Rice replaces or covers Xhaka.I wouldn’t wait for the season to start.
Before you reply,just look at the players who were on the bench at Man United then compare with ours.Thats why they managed to go further than us both in FA&Europe.
We couldn’t beat Sporting Lisbon. What hope is there of even getting out of the group in the ECL. We will get battered by the first good team we face, because they’re all more aggressive, more seasoned, more experienced, and more hungry than we are. It happens every year, in every competition. As soon as it gets hard we collapse.
Had it been Arsenal against Inter Milan on Saturday night, they would’ve won comfortably. With or without Saliba. We overachieved last season because everyone else was crap and it is gonna bite us in the arse next year when we have to play twice a week and there is no respite. MA won’t rotate and we will only be left buying the players no one else wants again and then all come on here and try to kid ourselves that we got a bargain.
Blimey, how do you get through life with such a pessimistic attitude. You must be clairvoyant to know all those things are going to happen next season. How about giving us the winning lottery numbers as well.
I’m just being a realist, Marty. I really hope I’m wrong, believe me. But having false hope or blind optimism is no way to go through life. It’s not clairvoyance, it’s just 40 years of supporting Arsenal and having 2 functioning eyes and a rational outlook on life.
We have a young team, and an inexperienced manager. We did really well last season but lacked consistency towards to the end and showed a soft underbelly. I doubt this will always be the case though, and expect us to be more ruthless as this group of players learn together Arteta matures in his role.
Y not?
Im a believer!
We couldn’t even make it past the early rounds of the FA Cup mate
This season in Europa we basically played a makeshift team, dare i say 2nd team, & not Artetas preferred 1st team line-up. Only when our backs were against the wall were all the big guns rolled out. Does anyone remember that we beat the Europa holders 7-0 in the Emirates Cup in pre-season!
As for previous attempts i would argue we were nt at the same level as we are now. Our record however isnt to savy i may add.
I agree with the author next season’s UCL will be more open as a lot of the usual favourites are rebuilding. I can see us, Barcelona, Napoli & one of the Manchester teams in tbe semis.
ALWAYS FORWARD & SEIZE THE MOMENT!!! This season in Europa we basically played a makeshift team, dare i say 2nd team, & not Artetas preferred 1st team line-up. Only when our backs were against the wall were all the big guns rolled out. Does anyone remember that we beat the Europa holders 7-0 in the Emirates Cup in pre-season!
As for previous attempts i would argue we were nt at the same level as we are now. Our record however isnt to savy i may add.
I agree with the author next season’s UCL will be more open as a lot of the usual favourites are rebuilding. I can see us, Barcelona, Napoli & one of the Manchester teams in tbe semis.
ALWAYS FORWARD & SEIZE THE MOMENT!!!
We going to have to put our first team out every time we play CL and also in the EPL so injuries and fatigue will be a important factor, if we don’t have a real depth in our team next season we might blow top four in the EPL
Oh well. A bit a fairytale sometimes does wonders for the mind. Let me get back to reality. Fast.
If we were really serious about winning the Champions League, we would use the 100M set aside for plain, boring Rice to sign superstar Kylian Mbappe. Big player for a big club!
We can win it all next season depending on how ambitious the Kroenkes are in this transfer window. Will we be recruiting for the league, domestic cup and quarter finals of the Champions league or will we be recruiting for a Quadruple? If Brighton and West ham trying to fleece us, where are our other options? Are we going to fluff around all window on Rice and Caicedo before getting outbid by Chelsea at the last minute and end up panic buying to make up numbers? Edu needs to have a strong window, considering the money he has been given to spend recently and no trophy yet to show, his record of giving old Brazilian ‘s bumper twilight contracts and piss poor player value management, I’d say his position is somewhat precarious. If Liverpool got MacAlister for £35m, then there is no way we should pay what West ham or Brighton are demanding, time to move on to other options- for this Edu needs to have identified other targets before the window opened. We will see if he did, if not and it’s a wasted window because we got gazumped and then went panic buying like a shopaholic on Christmas Eve, then the blame rests with him. To his defence, he has agreed some decent extensions recently but when will Saliba’s extension get announced? Saliba, Nelson, Ode let’s get those contracts done, quicky and empathetically to make a statement and let’s get some business done asap both in and out. A big window and we aim to win all the competitions we are in, next season. It on you now Josh and Edu, what ambitions do you have for our club?
Koronke’s have been in major power for nearly a decade and we havnt come close to winning it all
How much have they spent in that decade?
Of course we only have a *very* slim chance, but to be fair, many weaker teams than ours have won it.
Chelsea and Liverpool spring to mind.
Sam P needs a reality check. Arsenal don’t have European pedigree to win, let alone be competitive in such a prestigious tournament. Manchester City have now had a sniff of blood in winning the Champions League. They now know what it takes and means to win such a huge tournament. Real Madrid are now rebuilding. According to Jacob Steinberg, a very reliable football journalist, the Declan Rice deal deal seems to be in Arsenal’s hands,,, 100 million pounds plus add ons have been agreed. Other reliable sources have Arsenal going in on Caicedo for 80 million pounds as well. Gundogan also is a top priority for Arsenal. According to reliable sources if correct, Arsenal are signing all 3 players. When you think about it, it’s not impossible. Whether Arsenal can persuade Gundogan to come over will make it interesting to say the least. With a very young Josh Kronke taking a huge interest in Arsenal must be very encouraging to Arsenal supporters. Still, at the end of the day, Arsenal have a very long road ahead. Arsenal needs to be competitive on all fronts when it comes to winning trophies. Winning the worthless Charity Shield, League Cup, builds a winning mentality within a squad. And at the moment in time, Arsenal don’t have it. That’s what they need to build on. So don’t start talking up winning Champions League,,,or even thinking about making semi finals stages. Rome wasn’t built in one day
Rome wasn’t build in one day bt it can be CAPTURED in one day.
@BangBang, I know what you mean, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way in football. One can make all the necessary signings that’s needed, but that team needs to gel as one with that certain chemistry to win trophies. And that doesn’t come overnight. It’s unfortunate, but that’s football. You need a certain chemistry and mentality to achieve things. And that won’t happen straight away. Arsenal have a long way to go before they are up with Manchester City. And Real Madrid are in the middle of a rebuild. Arsenal are no where near those two clubs
I’ll be totally disappointed if we get Caicedo and Rice, they aren’t good enough, put Martineli in the midfield and he’ll do better than the both combined,
All we need are 2/3 players in our midfield in the mold of Martineli and Saka,
Get Szobozlai, get Pasqueta, get Havertz/Mounts, Urgate, we need machines not recyclers,
how many long range shots have you seen from Rice and Caicedo, how many times have you seen them turn defence to attack,
Against Liverpool we should have won but for the wrong pass from Martineli to Saka, there should have been a midfielder sprinting also, same happened against sporting, only Martineli sprinting away, no support, yet we want Rice, I’ll rather have Ndidi and Ihaenacho.
£100m for Mbappe & Rice? Talk about FANTASY!
We need experience to bolster our fantastic young’uns. Rice will be one. Will Caicedo be the other experienced player…..I don’t think so. Maybe James Maddison could bring some extra creativity. Maybe an Italian…..Nicolò Barella…..a fantastic player, non stop? Maybe Xavi Simons? We need to get some experience under pressure. We could have 60 games next season….that means 40 games each for a large squad. Lot’s of games and plenty of time to shine. We can’t implode like last season.
Arsenal’s first eleven at full flow are probably one of the best in Europe. So why not? By adding equally good backups, we might succeed. Setting the target higher could have been the reason Arsenal finished second this season. No doubt, it’s physical impossible to play and perform every game but as a highly paid footballer, you should be pushed to the max.
Why would good back-up players want to come to us? You KNOW you are going to rot on the bench if you aren’t in the starting 11!
And we are in the same amount of comps as last year. EPL, FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup so the amount of games is very similar.
Yeah I think we’ll make it to the last 16, then depending on who we draw you never know we could surprize a few billion
PJ
i think we achieved that this season regarding team chemistry & bonding. Only Rice, who will be an immediate starter will have to blend in. That can be easily achieved duriing pre season.
IF you can IMAGINE IT then LACK OF ACTION can PREVENT you from ACHIEVING IT!!
Arsenal, for their entire history, have been dreadful in Europe, and are an absolute embarrassment when looking at their
CL record.
A QF appearance would outstanding for us.
Not our “entire history” Jen, as we’ve actually won a couple of trophies, one of them being second only to the Champion’s League, and made it to finals at least another four times, but yes, we should have done better.
For a club our size, and given our domestic record, I find our European record terrible.
In comparison to other English clubs, we’re miles down the list, and now Man C are ahead of us. And I dare not look at our record against other European clubs.
I think the question is, why are we so bad? Especially in the European Cup.